IDEAS schedule for October 2024
* Please note this schedule is subject to change.
Tuesday, October 1
LEFT IS NOT WOKE: SUSAN NEIMAN
"Woke," a term that began on the political left, has largely become a pejorative term, often used by the political right, to smear left-wing extremism, real or imagined: an intransigent moralism that causes some people to lose entire careers over a single verbal transgression. How did this happen? That's exactly the question, or one of them, that philosopher Susan Neiman seeks to answer in her book, Left Is Not Woke. Professor Neiman is the director of the Einstein Forum in Potsdam, Germany, and situates herself firmly on the left, politically and philosophically. She argues that "wokeism" is foundationally wrong, and short-circuits what it means to be on the left. She was interviewed onstage at the Toronto Public Library as part of the Provocations Ideas Festival. *This episode originally aired on April 12, 2023.
Wednesday, October 2
MAKING JUSTICE IMAGINABLE: LEX GILL
We must mend what has been torn apart, make justice imaginable again in a world so obviously unjust," wrote Albert Camus. In a lecture delivered at Crow's Theatre, lawyer Lex Gill considers what law can and can't do to create a better world. She considers how social and cultural movements can nudge the evolution of law and how to keep working for justice, regardless of the odds.
Thursday, October 3
MASSEY AT 60: JANE FREEMAN ON URSULA FRANKLIN
Technology is much more than a tool; it's a system, according to physicist and peace activist Ursula Franklin — one so powerful that it can shape our mindset, our society and our politics. Her observations were prescient when she delivered her Massey Lecture in 1989 and they are all the more relevant today. Ursula Franklin's friend and collaborator University of Toronto Professor Jane Freeman reflects on the power of Franklin's message.
Friday, October 4
REALITY CHECK: ON REALITY TV
When Reality TV first exploded in the early 2000s, sociology, psychology and philosophy classes had something new to chew over. How do shows edit or manipulate reality to construct a story? What does reality TV mean for our ability to discern truth from fiction? The popularity of shows like Survivor and Teen Mom also sparked a media moral panic about the dumbing down of culture, and the normalization of narcissism. But 25 years after the reality revolution, and with the genre showing no signs of slowing down, some argue that Real Housewives and the like may actually have made viewers more media literate, and thoughtful about contemporary reality. *This episode originally aired on May 6, 2024
Monday, October 7
THINKING OUT LOUD TOGETHER: RANDY BOYAGODA
After the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, encampments popped up across university campuses, followed by intense scrutiny and several resignations of several presidents at prominent universities. Underlying the controversies was a simple question that has no simple answer: what is a university for? That question has been around for centuries, and it's come back, full force. Writer Randy Boyagoda makes the case for universities being a place where we can think out loud together.
Tuesday, October 8
MANIFESTO: OCTOBER CRISIS
In the fall of 1970, Quebec Separatist group Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) escalated their campaign by kidnapping British diplomat James Cross, and murdering government official Pierre Laporte, sparking the October Crisis. One of the group's demands was the reading of the FLQ manifesto on all media outlets in Quebec — and CBC/Radio-Canada complied. In this documentary, Geoff Turner, host of the CBC Podcast Recall: How To Start A Revolution examines the impact and legacy of the manifesto, and how it still has relevance today. *This episode originally aired on October 13, 2020.
Wednesday, October 9
ELEMENTS SERIES: EARTH AND WATER WITH ROBERT MACFARLANE
Life depends on four elements — earth, water, air, and fire. Renowned author Robert Macfarlane has described his work as being about the relationship between landscape and the human heart. As part of a series on the elements in the Anthropocene, Macfarlane talks about how that relationship with earth and water has changed. Humanity has become a transformative force of planetary proportions to the point where we are altering the very nature of the elements, with grave implications for the planet and us.
Thursday, October 10
LOVING YOUR COUNTRY IN THE 21ST CENTURY (STEP ONE)
Choose your country. It's the first step towards finding the healthy variety of patriotic love. But what sort of 'choice' is it? IDEAS producer Tom Howell speaks with exiles, nationalists, dual citizens, and people whose 'country' doesn't officially exist, in a quest for peace on fraught terrain: modern patriotism.
Friday, October 11
THE INVISIBLE SHOES OF STUTTHOF CONCENTRATION CAMP
In 2015, the poet-musician Grzegorz Kwiatkowski made a strange discovery at the site of the former Stutthof concentration camp in Poland — something he calls "a carpet of abandoned shoes." But these were more than shoes: they're both artifacts and symbols of the Holocaust — as well as a flashpoint of nationalist denialism and historical amnesia — especially in the current climate of authoritarianism, and the rising ghosts of neo-fascism. *This episode originally aired on May 2, 2019.
Monday, October 14
DINNER ON MARS
Under the weight of the pandemic lockdowns, food security experts Lenore Newman and Evan Fraser embarked on a thought experiment to figure out what it would take to feed a human colony on Mars in the year 2080. From greenhouse technologies to nanotechnologies, they figure we could have a sensible, tasty and well-balanced diet on Mars — including fine cheeses, scotch and sashimi. But is that really what we want? *This episode originally aired on Oct. 4, 2022.
Tuesday, October 15
THE PIG WAR AND THE MEANING OF HISTORY
In 1859, on a small island in the Pacific Northwest, an American shot a pig. But that pig belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company. British warships were dispatched, American troops landed, and suddenly the United States and British Empire were on the brink of war once again. The incident became known as The Pig War, and it claimed one casualty: the pig. Over the years, tales about the conflict have been embellished and exaggerated, conspiracy theories invented, and lessons derived. But underneath all the folklore and tall tales is a story of peace, diplomacy, and how we make meaning out of history.
Wednesday, October 16
WILD GIRLS: TIYA MILES
Harvard historian Tiya Miles won many awards and distinctions for her book, All That She Carried, the story of a cotton sack and the three Black women — Rose, her nine-year old daughter Ashley and great-granddaughter Ruth Middleton — whose lives were emblematized by the embroidered words on it. Professor Miles, who's previously been a guest on IDEAS, delivers a talk in Montreal based on her book, followed by an onstage interview with host Nahlah Ayed about her latest work, Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation. *This episode originally aired on April 10, 2024.
Thursday, October 17
BURNING QUESTIONS ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS
Fire and flood, wild wind and searing heat: global conditions read like something out of the Old Testament. But science tells us our climate results from all-too-human industry, and it worsens through faulty decision-making. Survival needs to be a collective concern, argues Fire Weather author John Valliant and climate campaigner Catherine Abreu. They offer criticism, hope, and suggestions for concrete action at the 2024 PEN Canada Graeme Gibson Talk, moderated by IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed.
Friday, October 18
JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE
Donald Trump's political rise and victory in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election might have been a surprise to some. But to historian Kristin Kobes du Mez, it was the latest chapter in a long relationship between white American masculinity and evangelical Christianity. Her 2020 book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, became a New York Times bestseller, and she became an invaluable resource for countless people — inside and outside of the United States — who have been trying to understand where the idea of a 'warrior Jesus' came from, and what lies at the heart of its power.
Monday, October 21
THE LIVING DEAD
Our complicated feelings about life and death are captured in art that make use of human remains, according to the PhD work of anthropologist Myriam Nafte. As part of her dissertation research she studied how contemporary western artists incorporate human body parts. This episode originally broadcast in 2014. It was the first to kick off our decade-long series Ideas from the Trenches, featuring the groundbreaking work of PhD students across the country. Nafte is now an associate adjunct professor at McMaster University.
Tuesday, October 22
ARTS PIONEER JOAN JONAS: FROM A MOMA RETROSPECTIVE TO HER GREAT MUSE, CAPE BRETON
In the 1960s, New York City fostered a seismic upheaval defining what art is. One of the standouts of the contemporary art movement was Joan Jonas, an American visual artist and pioneer of video and performance art. Now 88, her work was recently celebrated at the Museum of Modern Art with a major retrospective. She lives most of the year in her Soho Loft and studio. But she also has another significant home and muse. Nearly 55 years ago, she joined a group of prominent New York artists, including her then-partner sculptor Richard Serra and composer Richard Glass, who set up summer homes on the stunning cliffs of western Cape Breton. In 2025, a major work of Jonas' will be on tour in Canada — inspired in part by her time in Inverness. It was acquired by the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. A documentary profile of the remarkable Joan Jonas.
Wednesday, October 23
THE MARROW OF NATURE: A CASE FOR WETLANDS
Our relationship with wetlands has always been troubled. Throughout history, wetlands have been dammed, drained and dug up to make way for agriculture and habitiation, while wetlands themselves have been cast as toxic wastelands, from the dead marshes in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings to the vegetal monster from the DC comic Swamp Thing. Yet not every perspective on wetlands is that negative; Henry David Thoreau called them 'the marrow of nature' and cultures around the world have used wetlands as sites of sanctuary and sustenance. That squelchy history — and the reasons experts say saving wetlands is crucial to our future — is the subject of a documentary by IDEAS contributor Moira Donovan. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 17, 2022.
Thursday, October 24
THE LEFT-HANDERS
They've remained a minority among humans since the dawn of our species, coping with systems and tools arranged for right-handers, and sometimes thriving as a result of their difference. Left-handed writer Mark Dance consults experts on the history — and latest mysteries — of the 'sinister 10 per cent,' and seeks answers to the question of what makes a left-hander special. *This episode originally aired on May 2, 2022.
Friday, October 25
THE OLD STONE AGE IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
Algoma University professor Paulette Steeves guides us through the mounting evidence suggesting the standard history of human presence in North and South America must be wrong. Drawing from archaeological studies and oral sources, Steeves attempts to reclaim the story of the Pleistocene Epoch from colonial scholars, who have traditionally dated human settlement on this continent to approximately 12,000 years ago. In her book, The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere, Steeves argues that human migration may have occurred closer to 130,000 years ago. She also recommends more humility on the part of the archaeology profession. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 13, 2022.
Monday, October 28
NEW WORLD DISORDER: JOURNALISM AND POLARIZATION, PART ONE
Social media bubbles, journalists as influencers, "lamestream media." There's clearly a crisis in journalism, and it's been blamed for the social and political polarization visible the world over. But newer forms of journalism may — just may — point a way out of the quagmire that the media itself has dug everyone into. IDEAS contributor Anik See brings us two episodes on how we got here and where we may be heading.
Tuesday, October 29
NEW WORLD DISORDER: JOURNALISM AND POLARIZATION, PART TWO
Social media bubbles, journalists as influencers, "lamestream media." There's clearly a crisis in journalism, and it's been blamed for the social and political polarization visible the world over. But newer forms of journalism may — just may — point a way out of the quagmire that the media itself has dug everyone into. Contributor Anik See brings us two episodes on how we got here and where we may be heading.
Wednesday, October 30
NEW WORLD DISORDER: IS FASCISM COMING BACK?
With the possible re-election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, some observers believe that if he were to win again, a fascist would be inhabiting the most powerful political post in the world. The ascendancy of Trump speaks to the burgeoning global phenomenon of the rise of far-right, authoritarian and fascist political forces — from Russia, across Europe and Latin America and within the U.S. IDEAS examines the ideology of fascism, why it initially emerged 100 years ago and why it's gaining adherents again — and why it poses such a danger now.
Thursday, October 31
NEW WORLD DISORDER: PANKAJ MISHRA
In books like From the Ruins of Empire, Age of Anger, and Bland Fanatics, Indian author, journalist and essayist Pankaj Mishra launched searing critiques of the failures of Western political and economic ideology. He connects the bad faith and imperialistic impulses behind such thought to the rise of resentment and disillusionment with democracy across much of the western world and Global South. In September, Mishra was presented with the Weston International Award for Non-fiction at the Royal Ontario Museum, where he gave a talk and was interviewed onstage by IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed.
